With SpaceX scrub, NASA again demonstrates commitment to innovation

A Falcon 9 launch, stage separation, and booster landing on
Saturday morning in one long exposure. [credit: SpaceX ]

During the wee hours of Friday morning, as the clock counted
down toward the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX engineers
worked frantically at their control stations. They tracked the
health of the rocket, the status of fuel loading, nearby weather,
and more for the mission to deliver supplies to the International
Space Station.

“There was a lot going on, and I’ve got to applaud them because
everything that was hitting the screen they were dealing with,” the
senior NASA figure at the launch, Kenny Todd, recalled later during
a news conference. “There was a lot of talk on the loops when you
consider the weather, the wind, the issues with the drone ship, and
the helium leak.”

As those last minutes ticked down, it seemed like the rain
showers may remain far enough offshore to get the launch off.
Engineers also had concerns about a leak in the helium system used
to pressurize the Falcon 9’s second-stage fuel tanks. They would
have to monitor it all the way down to the launch, but the SpaceX
team thought it should be manageable.